Small Radius oil cup anvil

[Frank S]

This is very good, especially your make do and mend philosophy. But, pardon me, Frank, you WELDED it to your table? If you don’t own an anvil, would it not be better to have a bolster on your bench, with a hardy hole cut in it, so that you could insert other anvil tools that you might make?

You are correct Philip, for most cases having a hardy hole or even a pattern of holes to bolt tools or fixtures to is a far better way.
the table top at the time was just a slab of 1" plate steel weighing about 500 lbs tossed atop of a pair of work horses that I was using to cut things out of the plate to become other tools or parts. it is far better to be able to grind off a weld than to have a permanent hole cut in it, as it takes a lot less time to grind off a weld than weld up a hole and grind that flush should I require that section of the plate for something else later.
I keep thinking that one day I will carve out a shape from a piece of 4 1/4" thick plate that I have in the shape of a Peter Wright, but I just can't bring myself to making the first cut in the piece of steel. It is 13" wide and 11 ft long and as sure as I cut something out of it I will need it for something else